On 2 June, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the country’s health authorities were urging him to re-impose a nationwide lockdown to stop the accelerating spread of coronavirus in the country. 

Pashinyan did not rule out such a measure but voiced serious misgivings about it, saying that it could cost the Armenian economy dearly. “I want to note that the healthcare system keeps telling us that we should impose lockdown restrictions as soon as possible, and the office of the commandant of the state of emergency… discusses that issue on an almost daily basis, but the problem is that we have already gone through a period of restrictions and seen that it brings about very serious, almost disastrous socioeconomic consequences,” he said. “One has to understand that the state’s resources are not unlimited and in case of another lockdown we could end up facing the kind of economic crisis which we would not be able to overcome for many years,” he added.

In order to cope with the situation in the country, Pashinyan threatened to issue a curfew order if the Armenian citizens continue to ignore the safety regulations imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus. He also told law enforcement agencies to more stringently monitor regulation observance. “Serious work must be done to increase discipline in observing the rules established by the task force and prevent the organization of any kind of public events,” he stressed.

Following Pashinyan’s announcement, the Armenian police suspended the activities of the passport and visa department and subordinate territorial divisions in order to halt the spread of the virus. The Armenian  government also ordered the largest textile factory in the country to close for three days after at least three of its 2,600 employees tested positive for coronavirus. The angry workers of the “Gloria” factory said they want the factory to immediately resume its work because they cannot support themselves and their families after the month-long lockdown. 

On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan announced that wearing masks in all public open spaces will be mandatory in Armenia. "Even proper wearing of homemade masks significantly reduces the intensity of the spread of the infection," he said. 

In the last 24 hours, Armenia reported 515 new infection cases and 12 deaths, bringing the total tally to 10524 cases and 170 deaths.